


But you're the truth

by edourado



Series: Hell's Kitchen Chronicles [23]
Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: F/M, Flirting, Fluff, Frank kills people, Frank takes care of Karen, Oneshot, Romance, Tumblr Prompt, kastle - Freeform, prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-20
Updated: 2016-06-20
Packaged: 2018-07-16 03:42:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7250584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edourado/pseuds/edourado
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tumblr prompt: Frank patches Karen up after she's hurt because of a job and goes after the people who harmed her. Romantic-ish</p><p>Special appearence: Max, the Pitbull</p>
            </blockquote>





	But you're the truth

The woman sat in front of her, with her designer heels and clothes, making Karen feel a bit self conscious. Well. At least her own blond hair didn’t come from a bottle. 

“For what it’s worth, miss Page, here’s a piece of advice”, she said, while Karen sipped the bitter tea she was offered when this meeting began, not ten minutes ago. “You should really let this go.”

Karen raised her brows. 

“And why’s that?”

The woman’s red lips curved around her teeth in a trained smile. 

“For your own sake.”

“Is that a threat?”

The bottled blond executive - whose job on the agency was still a mystery to Karen - made a surprised face that wouldn’t earn her a part in a school play. 

“Goodness, no. I’m just trying to help you. You know. Us girls have to stick together.”

“Funny you should say that. Are you sticking together with the forty seven women your agency sent to China to ‘model’? Because their families never heard from them again. Neither have their friends. In fact, no one seems to know where they are.”

Smiling as if Karen had complimented her on her outfit, the woman got up. 

“If you have any more questions, please don’t hesitate to call. Our lawyer will be happy to answer any further inquiries.”

Karen looked at her. 

“Have a nice day, Miss Page. Someone will escort you out.”

When the bulky security guard opened the door for her, Karen was actually relieved to feel the night breeze on her face. She hadn’t realized, but it was very hot in the office, she had started sweating under her dress. 

Walking towards the main street to hail a cab, Karen took a deep breath, trying to breathe away that uncomfortable stuffy feeling.

“What are you doing here, ma’am?”

Came that voice, suddenly, from her left. Turning around, Karen saw him standing there, very un-Punisher like, no guns in sight. But, knowing him, he probably had 17 of them stowed away. 

“Frank?”

She took a deep breath to steady herself and tuned to take a step towards him. When she looked at her left again to cross the street, there was, suddenly, a man, very close, and a sharp pain on her belly, under her ribs. And then everything was silent and blurry. She realized she was lying on the pavement, a strand of her hair over her eyes. Frank’s face came into view, but not into focus, his voice too distant, as if she was underwater. 

Karen felt herself being lifted, her head tumbled backwards and then she was out. 

.:.

When she woke up, she felt like she was spinning. There was a heavy weight on top of her legs… breathing?

Breathing out, she opened her eyes to her bedroom. Moving her hand, she touched the sore spot under her ribs. 

The breathing thing on top of her turned out to be Frank’s pitbull, who huffed and whined, scooting himself under her arm, demanding to be petted.

“Max?” she asked, her voice low. 

Trying to keep her eyes open so the spinning would stop, she saw Frank walking to her bed and sitting on the edge. 

“Move, Max, come on”, he said, nudging the dog away a bit. “Hello, ma’am.”

“What’s going on? What happened?” 

“What happened is you got drugged and stabbed. That’s what happened.”

He moved the covers and lifted her shirt to inspect her bandage. Karen looked as he examined the bandage, his hand contrasting against her white skin. 

“You did this?” she asked.

“I did the first one. This right here was the doctor.”

“What doctor? You took me to the hospital?”

“No, called one in. Friend of mine.”

She watched as he reached for something on her nightstand. His hand came back with cotton and he embedded it in.. Alcohol? Saline? 

Frank lifted his eyes to hers, asking if it hurt. Karen shook her head and watched as he wiped dried out blood from her skin. 

She shivered and he frowned, pointing out that it was cold, but she suspected it were his fingers against her that caused it, not the temperature of the solution.

“They drugged you”, he said, wiping and cleaning, eyes focused on his task. “We’re flushing it out, see?” 

He pointed to her other side and she just then noticed the IV hooked to her right hand. 

“The knife you took was meant to pierce your lung, I think. But you moved and he missed his target point.”

Karen breathed out and looked at Max, again lying on top of her legs, big sweet eyes watching the scene. 

“You brought Max”, she pointed out, rubbing her hand on the dog’s head. 

“Thought he would be good company. And I think he missed ya.”

She felt a smile forming and looked up at him. 

“You didn’t miss me?”

His eyes met hers and he lowered her shirt again, setting the used cotton on the small container on the nightstand. 

“Why I was there waiting for ya.”

They looked for each other for a few seconds and she caught herself biting her lip. 

“Were you going to invite me for crappy coffee in sketchy diners?”

He rolled his eyes, feigning annoyance and got up, taking the medical supplies and used materials with him. Karen watched as he walked around her place and, not for the first time, made a mental note on how good he looked, all manly and menacing. 

“Not once you had crappy coffee with me.”

“No? Prison coffee was pretty shitty.”

He chuckled, tossed the used stuff on a trash bin on her bathroom and tied the plastic bag. 

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

While he washed his hands on her sink, she turned to look at Max, the image of both him and his dog so comfortable in her apartment doing things to her. 

“Hi, Max”, she whispered, rubbing his ear. The dog leaned into the caress, rolling around on his back.

When the bed shifted again under Frank’s weight, she looked back at him. 

“You gotta be careful, ma’am.”

“Thought I was.”

Karen resisted the urge to close her eyes when he ran a finger on her face. 

“What was it this time?”

She told him about the agency recruiting girls - usually poor or in crushing debt - to model. They booked them a few fake photo shoots for “new magazines”, payed them well enough to make them hopeful and cloud their judgement. Then, they would call and say they had booked a job out of the country. Six months in China, Japan, some far away place where they didn’t speak English. And then the girls vanished. 

“That sounds like a job for the cops.”

“Yeah, well, nobody was looking into it.”

His jaw set while he sat there, looking at her. 

“You hungry?”

“Um… yeah, actually.” 

“Ok. Imma get you some soup, or something.”

She made a face. 

“Soup? Can’t it be, like, a steak, with rice and mashed potatoes?”

He lifted his brows and that side grin showed up again. Karen was thinking that she wanted to cuddle with him for as long as she could when he caressed her face again and took his phone from his pocket. 

“Atta girl.”

While he ordered, she took his free hand in hers, running her fingertips on the bruises and calluses she found there.

“D’you want onions on your potatoes?” he asked, taking the phone from his ear momentarily, not removing his hand from hers. 

She nodded. 

“Yeah, onions.”

“And steamed vegetables.”

“And steamed vegetables.”

“Oh, and a slice of pie”   

Frank looked at her and God. She wanted to climb him. 

“D’you have pies?”

He ordered, they waited, he tried to pry Max off the bed, failed. When the food arrived, he brought it to her and watched over as she ate, rolling his eyes when she made a face for the pie, too full to eat it. 

“I knew it.”

He ended up eating it, sitting by her side on the bed, legs over the blanket and she leaned into his shoulder, closing her eyes. 

Some time later, she wasn’t sure how much, she felt him moving and realized she had fallen asleep. 

“Time to take this IV out, c’mon.”

Instead of walking to the other side of the bed to reach her right hand, he turned her until her back was pressed against his chest, half sitting on the bed. His arms went around her and he started peeling the micropore around the IV. 

“It’s ok, almost done, almost there”, he said, softly, when she tensed at the feeling. 

Not because she didn’t want to look (Karen was passed the stage where blood made her queasy), but because she wanted an excuse to lean further into him, she shut her eyes and turned her head away, towards him. He smelled like clean clothes and something metallic. 

“There, all done, come’re”, he wiped rubbing alcohol on the puncture wound and moved to lie down again. “Go to sleep, now.”

He didn’t need to ask twice.

“Are you staying?” she asked, hand clutching his shirt. 

There was a slight pause, but he held her against him.

“Yes, ma’am.” 

.:.

Frank waited, sitting there on the garage, looking at his watch. 

He really didn’t want this to stretch out, he needed to be back in her apartment in an hour to change her bandages. 

Finally, he heard the click clack of heels against the floor and looked up towards the door. 

The woman stopped when she saw him sitting there on the hood of her car. From the way her throat moved, like she was swallowing, she recognized him. 

“Good, so you know me.”

She immediately put on a brave face, but he could see it. She was scared. Good. 

“You’re a notorious man, Mr. Castle.”

“Hmm. I guess you could say that.”

“To what do I owe your visit?”

“I think you know.”

She tried to smile, but it just came out like a hesitant curve of lips. 

“I can’t image what you mean.”

“Gonna need you to call your people overseas and call ’em back over. With all the girls you’re keeping hostage under your little prostitution scheme.”

She swallowed again and furrowed her brows. 

“I’m sorry, I think you got the wron-”

“Aw, c’mon, lady, let’s cut the crap. I got somewhere I need to be, so let’s hurry this along.”

She reached within her purse and pulled a small gun. Just by the way she handled it, it was clear she didn’t know how to use it. He rolled his eyes. 

“Ok. So you wanna make it difficult”, Frank looked at his left, to the floor, where the man that had stabbed Karen lied, a knife sticking out of his chest, lung pierced, dead already. “He did warn me.”

Her breath started to come in pants and her hand shook. 

“Stay away from me. I already called security.”

“Yeah, I figured you would.”

He got up from the hood of the car and walked towards her, frowning when she tried to shoot at him, but nothing happened. 

“Shoulda turned the safety off first.”

Taking the gun from her hand, he turned her around and knocked her out with a hit in the head. 

He did not like to hit women, but sometimes you gotta. 

A few minutes later, Frank walked out of the elevator, the woman unconscious over his shoulder, his gun secure on the other hand, and looked for the main office. 

There was a man standing there, talking on the phone, looking towards the big glass window that faced the river. 

Frank walked in and put the woman on top of the desk, not very carefully, making the man - Allan Manning, according to his desk plate - jump and turn around. 

“What the f-”

“Hang up the phone, asshole”, he said, pointing his gun at the man, who now seemed to shiver. 

“W-wait, I-”

“I said hang up the phone.”

He obeyed, putting the phone back in it’s base and lifting his hand up. 

“T-there’s security cameras, you’ll never-”

“Yeah, your girl here took care of that, and I took care of them.”

It took little effort, but the man called all his business fronts overseas and placed the order to bring the women back. Once it was all done, Allan was furious, spitting threats at him, but not daring to make any sort of move. 

“You will regret ever crossing my path,  _ Punisher _ .” 

Frank smiled. 

“Thank you for your cooperation. I think we can wrap this up”, he said, turning around.

The man in the expensive suit looked hopeful, almost daring to believe Frank would leave him be. But all Frank did was reach and close the blinds on the windows. 

“Now. About that reporter.”

“What reporter?”

“You know what reporter. The one that came in this morning. You sent your man after her?”

Alan sat in his expensive chair, breathing somewhat labored, sweat on his brow. 

“I asked you a question”, he clicked the gun’s hammer and the man let out a breath. 

“S-she was coming too close.”

“So you had her drugged and stabbed.”

He breathed harder, eyes never leaving Frank’s gun. 

“It had to be done.”

Frank nodded, as if he agreed. Then he took the phone from it’s base and dialed the number he had memorized by now.

“Detective Brett Mahoney.”

“Got a good one for ya”, he said on the receiver. 

“Castle?” the detective asked. These calls were bitter-sweet to him, Frank knew. 

He explained everything as quickly as he could, eyes on the trembling human smuggler sitting on the chair in front of him.   

“I got his computers here and no one to erase the hard drives. All ready for you. Don’t make him wait.”

Hanging up, Frank figured he had about ten minutes before the first car rounded in on the building. Clock was ticking. 

“Alright, sunshine, guess we’re done here.”

Allan breathed out, confused, and Frank walked to his side of the table, getting the woman’s gun from his pocket and placing it on his hand. 

“I’m not gonna kill her”, said Allan, defiant, almost brave. 

“Huh. Decided to grow a conscience, huh? No, you’re not gonna kill her. You gonna kill yourself. But first,” he clicked the safety off, made Allan aim the small gun to his pants and then pulled his finger on the trigger. “You’re gonna shoot your dick off.”

The screams made it easy for Frank to maneuver Allan’s arm and point the gun inside his mouth. 

“That was for Karen Page”, he said, even if the man did not listen, screaming and crying and shaking, a mess. “This is for the others.”

He pulled the trigger again. The blinds were covered in the splatter of blood and brains, and it was silent, the shot echoing. 

Eyeing the unconscious woman on top of the table, Frank still handcuffed her to the table. She wasn’t going to wake up until the cops got there, but just in case. 

And then he left. He was already late. 

.:.

Karen woke up when she felt a cold hand on her face. 

Groaning, she opened her eyes to Frank, sitting on the edge of her bed, smelling of her shampoo.

“Did you shower?”

He shrugged and nodded, moving her covers away a bit. 

“D’you mind?”

She let out a sigh, eyeing Max, sleeping over her legs. 

“No.”

“Thanks. time to change your bandages.”

He helped her sit up and lifted her shirt. While he worked, she copied the focused frown he had on. 

“You’re the meanest looking nurse I’ve ever had.”

He shushed her once, making her giggle.

“Ssh, don’t move.”

“Sorry.”

Karen watched Frank as he changed her bandages. It still hurt a lot, but, if she was being honest, she wouldn’t mind feeling the pain a while longer, if it meant he would take care of her. 

“Done. Here”, he handed her a glass of water and two pills. “Have your meds.”

She obeyed, trying to come up with something to say, to express that she was grateful, that she wanted him here with her, please don’t leave.

“You slept through dinner, I’ll get you some food.”

“Are you gonna eat, too?”

Again, he looked at her as if he could read her, measuring. She shrugged. 

“I don’t like to eat alone.”

He smirked and walked to the door, getting his coat on the way. 

“Ok.”

“Hurry back”, she said when he opened the door. 

He turned to her, winked and she was shivering, suddenly.

“Yes, ma’am.”


End file.
